Perforating machine



NOV. 10, 1931- J. T. SCHAAFF 1,830,811

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J. T. SCHAAFF PERFORATING MACHINE Filed July 271 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 T om Snom/woz JZhnTSchaaH 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 J. T. SCHAAFF PERFORATING MACHINE Filed July 27. 1929 Nov. l0, 1931.

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Patented Nov. 10, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT ortica JOHN T. SGHAAFF, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBIA, SSIGNOR T0 THE TABU- LATING MACHINE COMPANY, 0F ENDICOTT, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY PERFORATING MACHINE Application led July 27, 1929. Serial No. 381,409.

This invention relates to card perforatingv machines known generally as the Hollerith type of punch. In my Patent No. 1,300,491, dated April 15, 1919 and in my copending application Serial N o. 2,552, filed January 1 5, 1925, I disclose a perforating machine of this general character. In these machlnes a row of punches isprovided corresponding wlth one vertical row of index point positions on a record card. Acard is fed step by step or in other words column by column under the punches. While a particular column is under the punches a key is depressed to cause a particular punch to perforate the card at a particular point inthe column depending upon the value of the information to be recorded. In my aforesaid patent and application I disclosed an electric power device adapted to be controlled by the keys to operate the punches.

The present invention also involves a power actuated punch. In the operation of the machine the card is placed in thecard carriage and movedv to starting position where the first column on the card isin position to be operated upon by the punches. When a key is depressed and the corresponding punch is pressed through the card and withdrawn the carriage is stepped one column to the left to present the next column in position to be punched. In machines of this type means are provided whereby certain columns will skip past the punches so that no perforating may be effected in such columns. This result is ordinarily effected by attaching a piece of nietal to the escapement rack so that when the particular columns to be skipped reach the punching position the escapement pawls are not permitted to enter the rack. The carriage then feeds on until the escapement pawls are released by the metal strip and can again engage the rack whereupon the carriage is stopped with the neXt column of the card which is to be perforated under the punches.

An object of the present invention is to provide means whereby a column or several columns may be skipped depending upon the information that is punched in a previous column. In other words, if a particular fact is entered in a given column a certain subsequent column will be presented later to the punches for the entry of certain information. If, however, a different fact is entered in the earlier column, mechanism is set up whereby when the said subsequent column reaches punching position it will not stop but will pass on so that no information may be entered in such column.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby the feeding of the card may be suspended so that several` perforations may be made in a single column before the column is moved out of perforating position.

These and other objects will appear in the following description of the invention.

Referring to the drawings'wherein I have shown what I now consider to be the preferred form of my invention;

Fig. 1 represents a front view of the machine.

Fig. la is a detail of a device for holding a card in position for punching successive holes in one column.

Fig. 2 is a detail of mechanism operated by a particular key for causing the card carriage to skip a subsequent column or columns.

Fig. 3 is a detail of means for resetting the skip control mechanism before the next card is punched.

Fig. 4 is a detail of the back of the machine showing the escapement mechanism includirlg the mechanism for causing the card to s 1p.

Fig. 5 isy a. fragmentary sectional detail taken on line 5 5 of Fig. '1 showing the manner in which the keys select a punch to be actuated and also showing the power actuating device.

Fig. 6 is a. detail of an electric contact adapted to be closed when a key is depressed to cause the power device to operate.

Figs. 7, 7a and 8 are details of the column skipping device.

Referring to the drawings, the card l which is to be perforated is placed upon the runway or table 2 of the perforating Inachine between upper and lower guides 3. 4

and between end guides 5, 6. The guides 5, 6 are carried by brackets l7, 8 slidably mounted on rod 9 running across the machine.

Brackets 7, 8 are interconnected by a rack- 10 which is provided with esca-pement teeth 11. Punches 13 are mounted in supporting f plates 14, 15 and are normally held by springs 16 in their upper inoperative positions.

Below the lower ends of the punches is the die plate 17. The card 1 rests between the punches and the die plate 17. After lacing the card in the .carriage the carriage 1s then moved to the'right so that the first column at the left end of the card rests under the pifnches. In moving the carriage to the right, a spring barrel having connection with the carriage istensioned and it is adapted to feed the carriage to the left step by step as the successive columns are punched. This feed mechanism is well known in these machines and is therefore not shown in detail in the resent case.

T e spring barrel is shown at 18 and is connected at 19 to the carriage by means of a tape 20 and spring 20w. An escapement pawl 21 holds the carriage in position against the action of the feedingspring 18. The escapement pawl is pivoted at 22 on a rocking member 23 which in turn is pivoted at 24 to the frame of the machine. Member 23 carries a pawl tooth adapted to cooperate with the teeth 11 of the rack. The connection at 22 between the pawl 21 and member 23 is loose so that the pawl 21 may move to the right and left upon the member 23. Spring 26 tends to pull the pawl toward the left as viewed in Fig. 4. Rack 11 on the other hand moves the pawl toward the right against the action of spring 26 when the rack is in 4engagement', with the pawl. Rocking of shaft 24 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 4, causes the pawl tooth 25 to engage in the teeth 11 of the rack and lowers the pawl 21 to disengage the teeth 11. The pawl 21 then jumps slightly forward under the action of its spring 26 and as the shaft 24 is rocked clockwise the pawl 21 will be ermitted to rise into cooperation with the rac teeth 11 and pawl 25 will be removed from cooperation with the teeth. The card carriage and the rack 10 will then move toward the right in Fig. 4 or to the left in Fig. 1 until stopped by cooperation with the pawl 21 of the next tooth 11. The rocking of shaft 24 to permit this escapement takes place whenever a hole is perforated in the card. Above each punch 13 is aniinterposer slide 27.

Movement of any slide toward the right will cause its upward projection 28 to rest under the edge 29 of a rocking actuating plate 30 pivotally mounted at 31 to the frame of r the machine. A link 32 connected to the plate 5* 30 reaches downwardly and is connected at 33 to an arm 34 fixed on a shaft 35 on which is also fixed an arm 36 connected by a screw 37 to the armature 38 of an electric solenoid 39. A spring 40 tends normallgbto raise the link 32 and plate 30 to the psition shown in Fig. 5. Each of the keys 41 is provided with a notch 42 in the side of its shank. An arm 43 pivoted at 44 to a post 45 carried by the frame of the machine reaches into the notch 42 to be actuated by depression of the key. A spring 46 rocks the arm 43 counterclockwise and normally holds the key in its upper position. The arm43 is provided with a pin 47 engaging in a slot 48 on one of the slides 27. Depression of a key 41 then rocks the arm 43 clockwise and moves the corresponding slide 27 toward the right to bring the projection' 28 under the actuating plate 30. In moving toward the right the slide carries with it a bar 49. This bar is ada ted when it moves to rock a pair of arms 50 'Xed on the shaft 51. An arm 52 also fixed on the shaft 51 is adapted to close electric contacts 53 as shown in Fig. 6 to close the circuit to the solenoid 39. The details of the circuit are not disclosed here as these circuits are well known in this art. Thus when a key 41 is depressed to select and actuate one of the slides 27 the solenoid is energized and the plate 3() rocked to actuate the selected punch to perforate the card. This operation is also adapted to r-operate the esca pement mechanism. For this purpose the arm 34 reaches upwardly as at 54 over a lateral projection 55 on an arm 56 fixed to the shaft 24. Thus when the solenoid operates, the shaft 24 will be rocked clockwise in Fig. 5 and counterclockwise in Fig. 4. As soon as the solenoid becomes deenergized the parts will return to normal position and the carriage will feed one column tothe left as viewed in Fig. 1.

As soon as the card is perforated the solenoid is adapted to become deenergized although thekey 41 may not yet have been released and the slide 27 may not have returned to normal position. This is effected by the bar 49 riding supporting fingers 57. The opposite ends of the bar 49 are pivoted to the arms 50. The slide 27 moves bar 49 to close contacts 53. The slide is thereupon depressed and as soon as the perforation is made and before the armature of the solenoid reaches the limit of its travel, the shoulder 28a releases bar 49. The resiliency of the blade 58 of the contacts then rocks the arm 52 and moves the bar 49 back to the left over shoulder 28a. Contacts 53 will thus open and the circuit through the solenoid will be a person concerning whom the card contains a record is foreign born or native born and presuming that the fifteenth and sixteenth columns are used to indicate the date of immigration in the case of the foreign born person, it is obvious that there will be no date of immigration if the person were native born, Thus, if the information entered in the fifth column indicates that the person is native born it is desired when column 15 arrives at the punching position to cause it as well as column 16 to skip so that the seventeenth column will be presented in punching position. In the present instance the machine is designed so that the key N will punch a hole in the uppermost or 12 position in column 5 to indicate that the person is native born and the key F is adapted to punch a hole in the X position of column 5 to indicate that the person is foreign born. Thus if a hole is punched in the 12 position of column 5 it is desired to cause the fifteenth and sixteenth columns to skip the punching .position but if a hole is punched in the X position of column 5 it is desired to have columns 15 and 16 presented in punching position in the usual manner. This is effected as follows:

Mounted on the card carriage is a cam 59 adapted as the carriage moves from the right end of the machine toward the left to engage a pin 60 on a rod 6l to cam the rod downwardly as viewed in Fi 2 and toward the left as viewed in Figs. f and 8, against the action Aof a spring 62. The spring 62 may be attached at one end to a rod 61 and at the other to the supporting bracket 63 to tend to rotate the rod 61 counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 5. Fixed on the rod 61 is an arm 64 slidably connected by a pin 65 to an arm 66. The arm 66 is provided with a pin 67 adapted to be engaged by the slide bar 27 associated with the F key only when rod 61 is eammed to the left as inFigs. 7 and 8; at other times the pin 67 is out of the path of slide 27. Arm 66 is loose on the rod 61 and is integral with an arm 68 also loose on the rod 61. A spring 69 on the rod 61 is adapted to engage a pin 70. fixed on the rod 61 and at the opposite end to press against the arm 68. This permits cam 59 to move arm 66 against slide 27 without jamming. The cam 59 may be adjusted on the card carriage so that when the fifth column of the card moves to punching position the cam will engage the'pin 60 and cam the rod 61 downwardly to move the pin 67 into the path of the slide 27 as viewed in Fig.

2. Normally the pin 67 is above the position shown in Fig. 2 so that the slide 27 may move to the right without engaging the pin. When the cam 59moves the pin 67 into the path of the slide 27 associated with the F key if this key is then depressed movement of the slide to the right will rock the arm 66 and rod 61.

' Depression of' the N key will of course not 73 is also mounted on the card carria e andtherefore moves with the cam mem er 59 and rests under the end of the rod 61 at the time that the rod is moved and is held in its lower position4 by cam 59. The end 7 3a of the bell crank 7 3 rests on a rocker plate 75 pivoted at 76 (on rack bar 10. Spring 77 normally holds the plate close to the rack bar 10, so

that a cam projection 78 on the plate 75 will normally prevent the pawl 21 from entering the teeth 1l on the rack bar when columns l5 and 16 of the card reach the punches 13.

As the card carriage and rack bar 10 move to the right as viewed in Fig. 4, when the projection 78 passes directly above the pawl 21 as the latter is rocked upwardly to engage the teeth 11 the pawl 25 being rocked downwardly to disengage the teeth projection 78 will hold the pawl 21 out of engagement with the rack and the carriage will travel to the right as viewed in Fig. 4 until the projection 78 passes the cam 21 and permits the latter to rise into the' teeth 11 to check the movement of the carriage. The card will now be in position for punching in t-he seventeenth column. When the bell crank 73 is actuated it rocks the plate 75 away from the rack 1() from the position of Fig. 8 to that of Fig. 7, so that the pawl 21 may rise into engagement with the rack 10 in a normal way. When the plate 75 is rocked away from the rack 10 it will be latched in such position by a spring pressed latching member 79 at 80 and will be held away from the rack by such latch. After the card has been removed from the machine and a new card inserted and the carriage moved to the right as Viewed in Fig. l a cam member 81 will be engaged by a pin 81a on the latch 79. Fig. 3 shows these parts from the rear. Here the movement of the carriage would be to the left. When the pin 81a engages the cam 81 the latch 79 will be rocked clockwise about its pivot 81?; and the latching shoulder 8() will disengage the plate 75 and 'permit the spring 77 to rock the plate back to its normal position against the rack.

In'order that the carriage may be held in positlon for punching more than one hole in a given column l have shown a holding key a givencoluinn the operator will, when that column is in position for punching, depress the key 82 before depressing one of the punch keys 41. Thus when the punch key is depressed and a hole punched in the .'eolumn the carriage will be held by the projection 86 so that the card will remain in position to receive another perforation in the 5 same column. The next key may now be depressed to effect this additional punch. Any

'number of punch keys may be depressed while the key 82 is held. When all of the lo perforations desired have been made in the pawl 21 having been depressed in the normal manner when the first hole is pun'ched in this column will have been pulled a slight distance to the left (Fig. 4) by its spring 26. Thus when the key 82 is finally released and the spring 85 moves the stop 86 out of cooperation with the rack, the latter will move to the next column but will be stopped in the usual manner b the pawl 21.

Above the machine at the back I have shown a supporting frame 87. A sample or index card 88 is mounted on this frame to indicate the column in which punching is being effected. The sample card as shown here is much larger than the card in the machine. An index arm 89 sliding on the rod 90 fixed to the machine has attached thereto yat 91 a cord 92. The 'cord is attached at opposite ends to the frame of the machine and passes around a pulley wheel 93 mounted on the card carriage. As the carriage moves from one side to the other it thus actuates the index arm 89 and moves the latter at a greater s eed than the movement of the carriage an pulleys 93a on the machine frame. The layout yof the sample card 88 may be similar to the layout of the card 1 which is being punched and the markings thereon may be in alphabetical characters to indicate more clearly to the operator what is being punched on the card l. The index arm 89 may be adapted to lie to the left of a column on the sample card corresponding to the column on the card 1 in punching position. Thus by looking at the sample card with respect to the index arm the operator will know which column is in punching position ready to be punched.

The cam projection 78 on the plate 76 is not necessarily an integral part of the plate but may beattached thereto by screws 94 cooperating with the plate in threaded holes 95. The plate 78 may thus be attached in any position on the plate 75 to permit skipping of 55 any desired columns on the card 1. Also the cam member 59 may be secured to the card carriage in threaded holes 96 so that instead of controlling the skipping by the nature of column, the key 82 may be released. The

the perforations in column 5 any othercol-K: umn may be used for this purpose.V The pro? jection 72 on arm 73 may also be a strip ortures of the invention as applied to a single I modification it will be understood that vari-l ous omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a card perforating machine having a row of unches, means for selecting a punch for per orating a card and means for feeding a card to present successive columns in perforating position, of means operative when a card is perforated in a predetermined position for controlling said feeding means to cause a skip operation of the feeding means t0 cause a predetermined column on a card being fed to be fed through punching position without being punched;

2. In a card perforating machine, a plu-l rality of punches, means for feeding a card to present successive fields to the punches for perforating, means associated with said feed. ing means and adapted when a hole is perforated in a predetermined position of a card for causing a subsequent field of the card t0 be fed to perforating position, said last named means being adapted when a hole is perforated in another predetermined position for causing said subsequent field .to be fed to and through perforating position without being punched.

3. The combination with a card perforating machine having a r'ow of punches, means for selectively actuating the punches for perforating a card and means for feeding a card step by step to present successive columns thereof in position for perforating, of means controlled by said actuating means when the feeding means is in predetermined position and a predetermined punch is actuated for causing a skipping operation of the feeding means when it reaches a predetermined subsequent position. y

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my signature.

JOHN T. SCHAAFF.

plate so as to be actuated by rod 61 in any i.

position.

While there has been shown and described 5 and pointed out the fundamental novel fea- 

